It is often required to remove a wheel from a bicycle. For example, the front and/or rear wheel of the bicycle may be removed for ease of loading into a vehicle and to allow the bicycle to be more easily fitted into the vehicle. Also, the front (or rear) wheel may be removed when securing a bicycle to a rack so that the front (or rear) wheel may be placed next to the rear (or front) wheel and locked to the rack using a single locking mechanism, such as a chain. However, when a wheel is removed, the fork of the bicycle to which the wheel had been attached becomes exposed. During loading (or unloading) of a bicycle into (or from) a vehicle, the exposed fork is liable to come onto contact with a surface in the vehicle, possibly causing damage to the vehicle. Such damage can be relatively superficial, for example scratching of the vehicle paintwork and/or internal plastic damage, or may be more serious such as breaking a glass window. The exposed fork, in particular the exposed dropout slots in the exposed fork, may itself become damaged when a bicycle is being loaded (or unloaded) into (from) a vehicle or when the partially disassembled bicycle is placed on the ground, for example next to a rack. Furthermore, the fork of a bicycle can be relatively expensive to repair or replace, and so there is a need to protect the exposed fork.
The front and/or rear brake callipers also become exposed when the front and/or rear wheels comprising a braking disc are removed from a bicycle. Thus, the brake calliper is more vulnerable to damage when handling the partially disassembled bicycle such as when loading the bicycle into a vehicle. Furthermore, the brake pads in the calliper can be inadvertently urged together, for example, if the brake lever is pulled when handling the bicycle. Thus, without a brake disc to maintain a space between the brake pads, the brake pads come together and prevent the brake disc being replaced between the brake pads when the wheel is reattached to the bicycle.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a device that mitigates the problems outlined above and which can advantageously protect an exposed fork, such as a bicycle's front fork, and brake calliper, such as a front brake calliper, when a wheel has been removed so as to prevent damage to the partly disassembled bicycle and/or to a vehicle into which the bicycle is being loaded.